The Tim “Napalm” Stegall Substack Interview: Ramones tour manager Monte A. Melnick (Part One)
The man who kept Joey/Johnny/Dee Dee/Tommy/Marky/CJ’s train running on time talks about watching the Ramones grow from Day One.
Joey Ramone (l) with the man who kept his band on the rails, Monte A. Melnick (r), sometime in the early ‘90s.
1988: The Ramones roll into Austin’s Backroom for two nights promoting their recently released Halfway To Sanity album, Boston’s Neighborhoods in support. The Forest Hills Four reinstalled newly sober second drummer Marky Ramone to their drum stool, after Richie Ramone vacated it following completion of their 10th studio full length. Seems he got to believing his own inner mutterings about how he could do so much better…and reportedly found himself working as a golf caddy shortly thereafter. Perhaps he was also disheartened by the sessions, which producer Daniel Rey reported were difficult. Personally, this longtime Ramoneshead was dispirited by what felt like half-hearted concessions to the recently ascendent heavy metal scene, and the dissipation of their sense of humor. The only truly fun track was “Go Lil’ Camaro Go,” featuring Joey Ramone duetting with Blondie’s Debbie Harry.
Basically, yes – I had enjoyed the Ramones’ “mature” phase that began with 1984’s Too Tough To Die. But this album sounded fraught. And I didn’t think the Ramones needed to appeal to Mötley Crüe fans. I felt they needed to return to leather-jacketed chainsaw pop basics, complete with the old Mad magazine/comic book sensibilities. But they weren’t about to ask me, were they?
Well, the Ramones were coming about as close to South Texas as they were going to get, and this 21-year-old college student/punkzine writer was scheduled to interview them following the first of their two-night stint at the Backroom. Which made them the third band I’d interview, after Los Lobos and D.O.A.’s Joey Shithead. Hey, no sweat, right? It’s only the band that drew the ‘70s punk blueprint!
I blew it. I choked as Joey offered me a beer (Rolling Rock – the first time I encountered that East Coast brew) and tried to accommodate me. I forgot all my carefully composed questions as I faced my hero. He walked away, calling my efforts “pathetic.”
After a few years’ seasoning, I enjoyed a very good relationship with the Ramones, interviewing them several times, including for the Lollapalooza tour program Alternative Press produced for what would be their last tour. But I sucked that night, a rank amateur too starstruck by the proximity to my heroes. It probably didn’t help, having to face their first line of defense before entering the Backroom dressing room, their long-serving/-suffering tour manager Monte A. Melnick: “What’s your story? Alright, but I’m giving you five minutes - ya gotta make this fast!”
Melnick was as gruff as they come that night, but was very nice years later, when I encountered him at famed NYC punk haberdashery Trash & Vaudeville long after the Ramones’ 1996 retirement. Mind you, you’d probably be grumpy too, trying to keep that train from derailing for 22 years! And he didn’t even get so much as a gold watch! (Although he amassed quite an archive of memorabilia that’s served as a bit of a retirement plan, as he details in an upcoming installment of this interview.)
An accomplished musician in his own right, Melnick sublimated his own ambitions to help his childhood pal Tommy Erdelyi realize the fruition of this odd trio of fellow Forest Hills High School alums he brought into Performance Studios, the rehearsal studio they co-owned. He had a front seat from that moment, as the Ramones gave rock ‘n’ roll a loud/fast/tuneful/basic facelift.
Monte (l) and Tommy Ramone’s (r) high school graduation photos, courtesy Monte A. Melnick.
Melnick was interviewed by telephone Mar. 1, 2023, to promote the most recent update of his beautiful memoir co-written with Streetwalking Cheetahs guitarist Frank Meyer, On The Road With The Ramones, updated with 40 pages of new material.
(REMEMBER: All Tim “Napalm” Stegall Substack Interviews are readable only by paid subscribers. So take advantage of the GABBA GABBA HEY! Subscription Special, 25% off the normal annual subscription price of $50! Here’s your opportunity to upgrade your sub from the free level at a deep discount! Or to merely subscribe in the first place! And do so at 25% off! So click this link! Or this one! Upgrade your free subscription! Or subscribe if you don’t! And at 25% off! Or maybe you don’t mind paying full price! There’s a button down there for that!)